Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Win tickets to the Wickham Festival taking place from 4th – 7th August off Blind Lane.

The Breeze will be there to enjoy live music from The Stranglers, The SAS Band featuring Toyah and Roger Taylor from Queen, Lindisfarne and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

It’s a fun filled weekend for the whole family in the Hampshire countryside with activities including a solar powered cinema, storytelling and a laser arena.

• Continue reading/Enter competition at The Breeze.

London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season is back as part of the London Bridge City Summer Festival, offering 40,000 free tickets for great theatre within the heart of London. Running since 2003, this is still London’s only ‘free to all’ annual festival of theatre. There’s no need to book so just turn up and take a seat!

• Continue reading at Concert News Online.

Toyah Willcox musical to play free open air festival

Based on Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment receives its world premiere in August

A brand new musical retelling of Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment, will be staged at The Scoop in London this summer.

Adapted and directed by Phil Willmott, the musical will feature original music by Toyah Willcox and Simon Darlow, as well as some of Willcox’s well-known tracks.

Crime & Punishment: A Rock Musical will be part of the free open air theatre season, held annually at The Scoop, next to City Hall on the south side of the River Thames.

• Continue reading at What’s On Stage.

Toyah Willcox rock musical to run at open air theatre in London

A musical based on novel Crime and Punishment that features the music of Toyah Willcox will run at open air theatre the Scoop this summer. The show, from theatre company Gods and Monsters, runs at the Scoop near London Bridge from August 31 to September 25.

Crime and Punishment: A Rock Musical is adapted and directed by Phil Willmott and features songs written by Willcox and her writing partner, Simon Darlow.

Willcox said she was “excited that this collaboration will engage tens of thousands of people with this extraordinary novel in so fresh and enticing a way”.

• Continue reading at The Stage.

Gods and Monsters Theatre To Present Crime and Punishment: A Rock Musical

London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season is back as part of the London Bridge City Summer Festival, offering 40,000 free tickets for great theatre within the heart of London. Running since 2003, this is still London’s only ‘free to all’ annual festival of theatre. There’s no need to book so just turn up and take a seat!

This year, Gods and Monsters Theatre are shaking things up with a new rock musical of Crime and Punishment, with songs by the legendary Toyah Willcox. This newly revamped production of this 19th century masterpiece marks the increasingly important role Russia plays in London’s economy and the way our work, social and cultural life is enriched by a strong Eastern European presence in our capital.

Toyah Willcox comments, Who could resist this chance to help introduce theatre-goers, great literature and steam punk all in the one show, performed for free to such a huge and multi- cultural audience, in this iconic, beautiful venue? The on-going work of Gods and Monsters to create vibrant, powerful productions that bring London’s diverse communities together under the stars is a perfect fit with my life-long philosophy of performance for all. Capturing the spirit of Dostoyevsky’s alienated characters has been a wonderful challenge and I’m excited that this collaboration will engage tens of thousands of people with this extraordinary novel in so fresh and enticing a way and is totally fitting with my musical work.

• Continue reading at Broadway World.

New Crime And Punishment musical part of London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season

London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season is back as part of the London Bridge City Summer Festival, offering 40,000 free tickets for great theatre within the heart of London. Running since 2003, this is still London’s only ‘free to all’ annual festival of theatre. There’s no need to book so just turn up and take a seat!

This year, Gods and Monsters Theatre are shaking things up with a new rock musical version of Crime and Punishment, with songs by the legendary Toyah Willcox. This newly revamped production of this 19th century masterpiece marks the increasingly important role Russia plays in London’s economy and the way our work, social and cultural life is enriched by a strong Eastern European presence in our capital.

• Continue reading at Live Theatre UK.

The Dartford Festival 2016: Bad Manners, Toyah and The Hoosiers

Heavyweight ska legends Bad Manners will be headlining the Dartford Festival this weekend. The two-day free festival on Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, will be packed with music acts on two stages and a funfair throughout the weekend.

On the main stage will be 1980s singer Toyah, Bad Manners, The Hoosiers and 4th Impact, along with a string of other acts over the two days. There will also be a Battle of the Bands throughout the weekend with local groups competing for a slot on the main stage.

This year the festival celebrates its 80th birthday. The annual shindig in Central Park has been providing free family fun since 1936. Up to 25,000 people turned up for the two-day event last year, and this year the council are expecting to welcome even more. The extravaganza will also feature a fairground with £1 rides, a licensed bar and a 6D cinema.

• Continue reading at Kent Online.

The event will feature big names and local talent

Toyah, Bad Manners and The Hoosiers are among the acts set to perform at this year’s Dartford Festival, which will take place at the weekend.

The two-day event in the town’s Central Park will feature a variety of live acts on the main stage as well as performances from local groups on the community stage.

Birmingham-born punk icon Toyah Willcox, who is currently touring and performing at festivals up and down the country, will appear on Saturday.

• Continue reading at the Bromley Times.

Thousands get ready for 80s fest as Let’s Rock gets underway

Southampton’s feast of the 80s has got under way on the Common. Thousands of neon clad revellers have already gathered for Let’s Rock Southampton.

Revellers are getting in the spirit and a Pamela Anderson lookalike stag can be seen leading a whole pack of his Baywatch style lifeguard mates in a Grease singalong at Let’s Rock Southampton. Meanwhile Ghostbusters are patrolling the field, Subbuteo players are in full kit and there are a few superheroes and Star Wars characters at the 80s revival festival.

They are being entertained by 2 Tone ska revival band The Selecter in a change to the advertised line up. Doctor and the Medics, Toyah and Bucks Fizz were set to follow this afternoon before the 80s big guns including current chart-topper Rick Astley.

Organisers are expecting around 9,000 party-goers for today’s third annual event.

• Continue reading at the Southern Daily Echo. (Photo © Southern Daily Echo)

Singer and actress Toyah has had many Top 20 hits and appeared in films with stars such as Katharine Hepburn. She has also written several books. She starred at The National Theatre with John Gielgud, and she acted alongside Laurence Olivier in TV’s The Ebony Tower.

Toyah will be singing at The Rewind Festival, Scone Palace, Perth, on Sunday, July 24.

Why do the Rewind Festival?
The audience there is from three to 83 and I seem to get rediscovered by every new generation. It’s very rewarding. It becomes a party for all of us and every song is a hit.

What do audiences say to you?
Usually they say their mothers hate me because I’m the reason they dyed their hair as a teenager, or because I got them expelled from school.

Are you still a rebel?
I prefer to think that I’m just not a conformist. If that makes me a rebel, then I guess that’s what I am.

Is image still important when performing?
Yes, but I’m 58 now and I don’t want to look stuck in the past, so when I dress for stage I try to be age appropriate and reinterpret the songs for today.

• Continue reading at The Sunday Post/in10 Magazine.

Furious front women, terrifying girl gangs and a film that pissed off Dame Vivienne – these are the riotous movie classics you need to see

Punk was never a gender-bound movement. Propelled by a riotous sense of freedom and rebellion, it offered women the chance to break free from the constraints of conformity; and marked a major cultural moment for oppressed outsiders everywhere. Now, to celebrate its 40-year anniversary, one of punk’s principal spearheads Don Letts has announced an excellent programme of films centred on the movement. In anticipation of its premiere at the British Film Institute this summer, we round up some of the season’s biggest female-focused features.

JUBILEE (1978, DIR. DEREK JARMAN)

Derek Jarman’s twisted post-apocalyptic nightmare sees fashion, sex and satire clash in a dystopian London, the streets of which are ruled by an army of terrifying girl gangs. A bizarre narrative in which the Queen is transported 400 years into the future to view what the country will become lets Jarman channel fury and mayhem through his female protagonists. It’s a glorious and gorgeously shot piece of punk history, with a joyous list of cameos including Adam Ant, Toyah Willcox and Brian Eno (with his first film score). Its release garnered mixed reactions (Vivienne Westwood notoriously printed an open letter to Jarman on a t-shirt stating how much she despised the film), but the director remained unperturbed, relishing the tribal-like fierceness of his women at a time when chaos ruled.

• Continue reading at Dazed.

Exclusive interview with Simon Cox, director of Kaleidoscope Man

You’ve just returned from the cinema and what an experience: the music, the action, the story, the special effects and those edge-of-your-seat moments! If you’re an independent filmmaker or film fan you might dream one day of making such a film. So you’ve decided to make to make a feature film, not only that, but fund it independently, gather a wonderful team and five hundred supporters from around the world. Simon Cox, director of sci-fi feature film Kaleidoscope Man, has done just that. I was intrigued to find out more , so I caught up with him.

JT: What was the moment you decided to embark on making a sci-fi feature film ?

SC: I’ve wanted to make an epic sci-fi movie since I first saw the original Star Wars when I was 13. I came up with the initial idea for Kaleidoscope Man back in 1999 after I’d finished my first feature Written in Blood (1998). I had no idea it would take me nearly 20 years to make!

JT: How did you go about getting the team together to make K – Man?

SC: Having worked in TV and film over the years, a lot of the people I’ve brought in were people I’d met along the way. I also found a few local people who have since joined the team. Our cameraman, Gordon Hickie, shot my first feature film (Written in Blood) and he now shoots Holby City, Casualty and The Inspector Lyndley Mysteries.

I found the cast via acting agencies apart from Toyah Willcox who I met at a film meeting a few years ago.

• Continue reading the interview at D&C Film. Browse Dreamscape’s Kaleidoscope Man news archive. (Photo © kaleidoscopeman.com)

It’s the 4th of July so we had to do something cool for US Independence Day. So, of course, Stuart Mulrain sat down with audiomeister Dirk Maggs to remember Independence Day UK. Caution: contains envy-inducing photos of Dirk sitting in fighter planes…

In 1996, Independence Day became the smash hit blockbuster of the summer, spawning the usual array of tie-in TV specials, toys, books, magazines and games. Perhaps the most interesting tie-in though is the BBC Radio audio movie Independence Day UK, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday 4th August 1996 and depicted the events of the alien invasion from the view point of the UK.

The audio movie starred Radio 1 DJ’s Nicky Campbell & Mark Goodier and astronomer Sir Patrick Moore as themselves, along with a cast that included Colin Baker, Toyah Willcox, Simon Treves, Peter Serafinowicz and Toby Longworth as RAF Pilots and William Hootkins as Orson Welles.

• Continue reading at Garbage-File.

Toyah is interviewed in today’s print edition of ‘The Sunday Post’ – 10 Toughies For Toyah is included in their “In10 Magazine” – We put some hard (and some easy) questions to an 80s icon…

Creativity, longevity and relationship advice with Toyah Willcox

There aren’t many things that make me nervous these days, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can pretty much hold my own in most situations. I’m rarely intimidated and I refuse to treat anyone any differently because of their status. It would seem strange then, that as I’m sitting at my desk watching the clock ticking ever closer to 11am, my palms are sweating and my heart is beating so fast I have to take deep breaths to stop it from leaping out of my chest.

I have a fairly solid reason for the nerves mind you, at the aforementioned time I’m scheduled to do a telephone interview with Toyah Willcox. The prospect of dialing her number and asking to speak to her is doubly scary because I have loved her work since I first saw her perform on Top Of The Pops, and if the truth be told, I’ve never done anything like this before – I didn’t tell her that though and I hope she didn’t realise!

The purpose of the call was to talk to her about her sharing the stage with the fabulous Marc Almond for the Last Night Party at the Grassington Festival of Music and Arts that’s taking place June 17th to July 2nd. It sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic festival (and why wouldn’t it be, it is in Yorkshire after all). Toyah is supporting Marc Almond for the final night of the event July 2nd at the Festival in the Field Marquee.

• Continue reading at Northern Life Magazine. (Photos © Toyah Willcox/Dean Stockings)

Toyah showed her support for Chorley & South Ribble A&E on Friday during a visit to Preston to play an acoustic gig… (Photo © 2BR Lancashire)

Meanwhile, actress and singer Toyah Willcox has also put her voice to the campaign.

Whilst on her ‘Up Close and Personal’ tour at Preston’s Guild Hall, Toyah showed her support with a picture online calling to save Chorley and South Ribble A&E.

It comes as campaigners have gone another weekend protesting outside of the department’s entrance – their 11th week in total.

• Continue reading at the 2BR Lancashire.

Pop icon, actress and household name Toyah is bringing her acoustic show to Dorchester Arts at the town’s Corn Exchange.

The show features acoustic versions of songs such as Thunder in the Mountains and Good Morning Universe to Sensational – a track that was used recently on a national TV advertising campaign starring Patsy Kensit.

Tickets for Toyah: Up Close and Personal are available from the www.dorchesterarts.org.uk website or call the box office on 01305 266926.

• Continue reading at Blackmore Vale Magazine.

Tickets go on sale for two big acts at Derby Cathedral

Tickets have gone on sale for performances in Derby by musicians Toyah and Ian Anderson.

Former punk star Toyah, who shot to fame in the late 1970s, will be performing an intimate acoustic set on Saturday August 27. And on Thursday, December 15, progressive rock and folk musician Ian Anderson, lead singer of Jethro Tull, will be performing the group’s classics and traditional festive songs.

The concerts are among the first major events announced as part of Derby Cathedral’s new events programme, which aims to bring evening footfall into the city while raising important funds for the upkeep of the cathedral.

• Continue reading at the Derby Telegraph.

Final countdown is on to Grassington Festival, which will offer music, mayhem, colour and creativity

Grassington Festival 2016 kicks off tomorrow with an opening night party featuring chart-topping 80s band Hue and Cry. For the next 15 days, the festival will offer music, mayhem, colour and creativity as artists, musicians and festival goers converge on the village in search of fun and inspiration.

Now in its 36th year, it boasts a wide range of events and activities from family friendly entertainment to walks, talks, workshops and creative challenges – many of which are free. The second week also boasts the now renowned Festival in the Field which will once again feature some of the biggest names from the worlds of comedy and music.

Seth Lakeman will be first to perform in the marquee on Tuesday, June 28, followed by the first-ever Live at the Marquee comedy night featuring Rich Hall, Rob Beckett, Shappi Khorsandi and Justin Moorhouse.

Next up are the critically acclaimed Bootleg Beatles, followed by 70s and 80s icon The Stranglers. The legendary Marc Almond supported by Toyah Willcox will bring the festival to a close on Saturday, July 2 with what is sure to be a Last Night Party to remember.

• Continue reading at the Craven Herald & Pioneer. Visit the Grassington Festival website for further details and to purchase tickets. View more info on Toyah’s appearance at toyahwillcox.com. Browse all of Dreamscape’s Grassington Festival 2016 news.

After Toyah’s sell-out performance last year, the household name, pop icon, TV presenter and stage/screen actress is returning to the Engine Shop at Enginuity in Coalbrookdale on Friday evening, 7th October. ‘Toyah: Acoustic, Up Close & Personal’ is a wonderful chance to experience the 1980s pop superstar in an intimate setting where music and stories take centre stage.

The show will see Toyah performing an unplugged set of her much-loved hits and classic songs. Toyah will also be recalling stories from her colourful, 35 year career, which has included roles in Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Peter Pan, Jubilee and Quadrophenia.

• Continue reading at Shropshire What’s On.

Perth’s bid to be the UK’s City of Culture is being backed by pop star Toyah Willcox

The ‘80’s hit-maker believes the Fair City is in rude health to challenge for the prestigious honour, and that the annual staging of the Rewind Scotland festival at Scone Palace can only boost the locality’s case.

The Birmingham-born singer and actresss regularly visits the area and was a popular draw at Perth Concert Hall when the musical Vampires Rock enjoyed sold-out stints at the venue in 2009 and 2010.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Perth is bidding to become the UK City of Culture,” Ms Willcox said. “I think Perth deserves that recognition as much as any other city.”

“I think cities that preserve their own culture and look after it, and are in touch with their own history, as well as supporting the local population, deserve to be City of Culture. I think it’s a very good thing to have happen and I wish Perth the best of luck.”

• Continue reading at The Courier.